As car boot sales go . . .

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News that the Government hopes to raise £16 billion from asset sales comes straight from the Gordon Brown textbook on news management in that it involves both a large and spectacular-sounding number and that it has all been announced before.

Unfortunately, this sale — which was previously unveiled on Budget day — is actually so small that it will make no meaningful impact on the Government’s debt, even if the sums raised are in line with Mr Brown’s optimistic forecasts. In particular, there have already been attempts to sell some of these assets, notably the Tote — which seems to